This is a very light tutorial. Basically I'm telling you some basics about the phones that run the AndroidOS, wehich can also be easily obtained from the website.
What is Android?
Android is a software bundle that includes the actual Operating System (OS), Middleware and key applications, that are specifically made to run on certain phones. The Android SDK provides the tools and the API (Application Programming Interface) needed to develop applications for the phones running that OS.
Features
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Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components
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Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices
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Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine
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Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)
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SQLite for structured data storage
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Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)
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GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)
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Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi(hardware dependent)
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Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)
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Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for •
debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE
Libraries
Android includes a set of C/C++ libraries used by various components of the Android system. These capabilities are exposed to developers through the Android application framework. Some of the core libraries are listed below:
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System C library - a BSD-derived implementation of the standard C system library (libc), tuned for embedded Linux-based devices
Media Libraries - based on PacketVideo's OpenCORE; the libraries support playback and recording of many popular audio and video formats, as well as static image files, including MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, and PNG
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Surface Manager - manages access to the display subsystem and seamlessly composites 2D and 3D graphic layers from multiple applications
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LibWebCore - a modern web browser engine which powers both the Android browser and an embeddable web view
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SGL - the underlying 2D graphics engine
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3D libraries - an implementation based on OpenGL ES 1.0 APIs; the libraries use either hardware 3D acceleration (where available) or the included, highly optimized 3D software rasterizer
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FreeType - bitmap and vector font rendering
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SQLite - a powerful and lightweight relational database engine available to all applications
Link for the SDK:
Android SDK | Android Developers
Source of the tutorial:
What is Android? | Android Developers